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Bob Whinney
| death_date = | birth_place = Rathdown, Dublin Region, Ireland | death_place = New Forest, Hampshire, England | placeofburial = | nickname = Bob | allegiance = | branch = Royal Navy | serviceyears = | rank = Captain | unit = | commands = [[HMS Wanderer (D74)|HMS Wanderer]] [[HMS Dolphin (shore establishment)|HMS Dolphin]] [[HMS Euryalus (42)|HMS Euryalus]] Chief Staff Officer Intelligence, Mediterranean and Middle East | battles = World War II | awards = Distinguished Service Cross with two bars | spouse = | laterwork = Author of his memoirs; Cancer Relief }} Captain Reginald Fife Whinney DSC & 2 Bars (8 Feb 1909 - 1992) was a Royal Navy officer who specialised in anti-submarine warfare during World War II. Whilst in command of the W-class destroyer [[HMS Wanderer (D74)|HMS Wanderer]] he helped destroy three German U-boats. For his WWII services he received the Distinguished Service Cross with two bars. After the war he was promoted to Captain and would go on to become Chief Staff Officer Intelligence of the Mediterranean and Middle East during the Suez Crisis. In 1986 he published his memoirs of his service years in The U-Boat Peril: an anti-submarine commanders War. Early life and education Reginald Whinney was born in Rathdown, Dublin Region, Ireland on 8 Feb 1909;National Archives his father Harold Fife Whinney thepeerage was at that time a Major in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light InfantryWhinney 1986, p.19 (though he would rise to lieutenant colonel). He was first educated at Eastman's Prep SchoolWhinney 1986, p.22 and then enlisted as an officer cadet at Dartmouth Naval College in 1922; an institution of which he was highly critical. Whilst there he met two people who would be cast out of the college and go on to gain notoriety; Guy Burgess and Norman Baillie-Stewart. Upon leaving Dartmouth, Bob (as he was known to his friends) was sent to join [[HMS Resolution (09)|HMS Resolution]] in Malta where (among other duties) he received lectures from Lord Louis Mountbatten. On 1 January 1927 he became a midshipman and soon after transferred to [[HMS Royal Sovereign (05)|HMS Royal Sovereign]] under Captain William M. James.Whinney 1986, p.23 In 1929 Bob passed his seamanship exam and progressed to the Greenwich naval college to finish his education before leaving as a sub-lieutenant.Whinney 1986, p.25 Navy career He was involved the Invergordon Mutiny in 1931 whilst stationed on [[HMS Rodney (29)|HMS Rodney]] and was nearly discharged from the navy.Whinney 1986, ch.3 However, after six months of service on the gunnery training ship [[HMS Iron Duke (1912)|HMS Iron Duke]] his record was cleared and he gained a transfer to the Heavy cruiser [[HMS Suffolk (55)|HMS Suffolk]] taking passage to the China station.Whinney 1986, p.36 HMS Suffolk commanded by Captain Errol Manners was soon to become the flagship of Admiral Sir Frederic Dreyer and took passage to Japan to attend the funeral of Marshal-admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.Whinney 1986, p.38 They also travelled to Bali, Borneo, Java, Celebes islands and up the Yangtze River. Bob then became the First lieutenant of a V and W class destroyer [[HMS Wolsey|HMS Wolsey]] which was brought out of the Reserve fleet at Malta during the Abyssinia Crisis.Whinney 1986, p.39-40 Next he was given orders to return to Britain to commence anti submarine training but on route he was asked by Naval Intelligence Division to travel overland by train through Italy in order to memorise the dispositions of the Italian navy vessels in their ports.Whinney 1986, p.40-41 Having passed the exam at Portland he was appointed as Assistant Anti-Submarine Officer to the 5th Destroyer Flotilla to be stationed aboard [[HMS Echo (H23)|HMS Echo]].Whinney 1986, p.46 When the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 Echo would lead three other destroyers from the 5th DF in patrolling the north coast of Spain but they would return in November for the fleet inspection at Portland by King Edward VIII. After Edward abdicated Bob took part in the lining of The Mall at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and then soon after the Fleet review at Spithead on 20 May 1937.Whinney 1986, p.47-49 When his appointment on Echo was finished Bob returned as an instructor at the Anti-submarine warfare school at Portland where he was given the responsibility of explaining the underwater equipment to visiting dignitaries such as Winston Churchill, the Duke of Kent, Lord Mountbatten and George VI. Whinney then joined [[HMS Duncan|HMS Duncan]] as the Anti-Submarine Officer (A/S) taking passage to Shanghai where they were stationed when the coded signal arrived to "Commence hostilities against Germany".Whinney 1986, p.50 They returned to the Mediterranean for a short time before being sent back home to Britain in escort to the battleship [[HMS Barham (04)|HMS Barham]]; on the way back, off the west coast of Ireland Barham collided with Duncan's sister ship [[HMS Duchess (H64)|HMS Duchess]] as the convoy altered course for the Firth of Clyde.Whinney 1986, p.52-53 World War II On 17 January whilst escorting Convoy ON18 Duncan was accidentally rammed by a Norwegian merchant vessel causing a twenty foot hole in her side but fortunately she did not sink and was taken under tow to Invergordon for temporary repairs.Whinney 1998, p.55-57 She was later towed to Grangemouth for repairs that were not completed until 22 July.naval-history.net HMS Duncan After another short stint at the Anti-submarine training school Whinney joined the lead ship of the 4th Destroyer flotilla [[HMS Cossack (F03)|HMS Cossack]] under Captain Philip Vian, with whom he had served under as a midshipman on Royal Sovereign.Whinney 1986, p.60 In May 1941 whilst they were escorting a southbound convoy WS8B from Glasgow they heard that had been sunk by German battle cruiser ''Bismarck''. Cossack along with ''Maori'', ''Sikh'', ''Zulu'' and Polish destroyer [[ORP Piorun (G65)|ORP Piorun]] were detached from the convoy to aid the hunt for Bismarck. On the evening of 26 May Piorun spotted Bismarck and opened fire; Vian kept up the attacks throughout the night, maintaining contact until the arrival of the big ships of the fleet the next day.Whinney 1986, p.65-66 His next appointment was to the staff of the Commander-in-chief, South Atlantic stationed in Freetown, West Africa where he would advise on Anti-submarine matters and train the local escort force.Whinney 1986, p.70-73 Here he caused a slight controversy when he was sent to investigate the Cape Verde Islands by reconnaissance aircraft for signs of German U-boats being refuelled there; the islands belonged to Britain's allies Portugal and Whinney flying too close was caught snooping.Whinney 1986, p.75 He also caught Malaria whilst stationed here which would need several months of treatment beginning at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases (then based in Liverpool) on his return to Britain at the end of 1942.Whinney 1986, p.83-85 HMS Wanderer Bob Whinney took command of the destroyer [[HMS Wanderer (D74)|HMS Wanderer]] in April 1943 while she was being converted to a Long Range Escort in the dockyards of Devonport.Whinney 1986, p.86-90 They would serve on the Western Approaches Command initially based at Greenock but later moving to Londonderry. Their first operational job was to escort troop ships for the Allied invasion of Sicily.Whinney 1986, p.90-91naval-history.net HMS Wanderer On 25 August 1943 during a convoy bound for Gibraltar, Wanderer attacked and sank U-523 some 400 miles off Cape Finisterre with depth charges, whilst co-operating with the British corvette [[HMS Wallflower|HMS Wallflower]].Whinney 1986, p.95-102 U-523 suffered 17 dead with 37 survivors.uboat.net, U-523 The following day (26 August), Wanderer delivered an advance RAF party to Portugal to implement the agreement signed between Britain and Portugal for the use of airfields in the Azores from which to operate their maritime patrol aircraft.Whinney 1986, p.104-105 On 17 Jan 1944 Wanderer with the frigate [[HMS Glenarm|HMS Glenarm]] sank U-377 in the North Atlantic.uboat.net U-377 For this action Whinney was awarded the DSC in February 1944, and on 20 June 1944 he was awarded a bar to his DSC.London Gazette 20 June 1944 On 5 July 1944 while supporting the Normandy Invasion, Wanderer and the British frigate [[HMS Tavy|HMS Tavy]] sank U-390 in the Baie de la Seine, English Channel, with depth charges; 48 were killed with 1 survivor.uboat.net U-390Whinney 1986, p.136-141 Whinney received a second bar for this action in October 1944.London Gazette 10 October 1944 Having landed the survivor from U-390 at Portland Whinney would discover that Wanderer was no longer sea worthy so he was reassigned to a job in the Admiralty assessing reports of Anti-submarine actions.Whinney 1986, p.145 However, having been on he job for only a few weeks Bob fell ill with "operational fatigue" in late December and so it came as a great surprise to be promoted to Commander on 31 December 1944.Whinney 1986, p.147 After a short spell on the sick list Bob decided to get back to work and was offered a post as Executive Commander at [[HMS Dolphin (shore establishment)|HMS Dolphin]], the Royal Navy submarine school at Fort Blockhouse. Post war After the war ended Bob's next assignment was as Executive Commander on ''Euryalus'' in the Mediterranean until he injured his back playing Polo and was invalided back home.Whinney 1986, p.149-151 He then served ashore firstly at the Seaward defence school then in 1950 he was promoted to Captain and became Deputy Director of the Underwater Weapons Department at Bath. Next he became Chief Staff Officer Intelligence, Mediterranean and Middle East where he was stationed during the Suez Crisis. Then after a short while in the Reserve Fleet he took his final posting as a Naval attaché in Yugoslavia. In retirement he worked for Cancer Relief and wrote his memoirs, The U-Boat Peril. He married twice and had a son and two daughters from his first marriage.Weekly telegraph Jan 1993 Family Brother Commander Patrick WhinneyThe Telegraph, 2005 Wife Bridget Coote 30 July 1959 Works * The U-Boat Peril, Arrow Books, London, 1986 ISBN 0-09-962030-8 Footnotes References Sources * * * * * * * * * * * * Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross and two Bars (United Kingdom) Category:1909 births Category:1992 deaths